24 April 2006
Maputo — The directorate of Mineral Resources and Energy in the central Mozambican province of Sofala is considering legalising gold prospection in the buffer zone of the Gorongosa National Park and in the district of Nhamatanda.
However, the government is advising the prospectors to organize themselves into associations before their activity is legalised and they are granted licenses.
Sofala provincial director of Mineral Resources and Energy Julio Mahomane, cited in Monday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias", said that, although the government has forbidden gold prospection in Gorongosa Park itself, some people are still continuing this polluting activity. A full time inspector and police officials have been monitoring the situation. Small scale prospection caused a landslide last year, killing at least four people and injuring a number of others, some of them seriously. "We have been working to monitor and organize this activity and to mobilise and explain to the community about the importance of organizing themselves into associations, if their activity is to fit the mining legislation," said Mahomane. "The prospectors should be organized into associations because the mining legislation caters for different types of licenses".
He deplored the fact that most of the gold exploited by those prospectors is illegally sold outside the country, with no revenue entering the state coffers.
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